Ruby's Birthday Party...

So Ruby is turning 9 on November 30th. I can't believe my baby is 9. I'll post more about that on her birthday. We had an insanely busy and loud and exciting and dramatic birthday party for her. Shoot, she had only a handful of friends at the beg. of the school year, but I started a co-op with a few of my friends and I recruited families that have girls her age and she had SIX friends just from co-op. She had Kiley, Ella and Shaylyn, her friends from church and another girl, Aliyah and a friend from up north, Mikaeli. She would have loved for her cousins, Sarah, Hailey and Mattie to be there, dont' think that she didn't express this even though she knew it wasn't likely due to the long distances. Anyway, we had a little, disorganized and non-themey party with no decorations but when you throw in 16 little girls, you don't need much more.

We started with pizza. Then we painted nails. Thankfully, my new co-op friend, Melanie stayed to help me because Chris was gone and I was WAY OUTNUMBERED! After nail painting, we opened presents and had cupcakes, then tried to settle in to watch one of Ruby's favorite movies, Secretariat...but there was just too much to be thrilled about and the girls didn't settle down. They just talked over the movie and ripped into Ruby's new toys and had a great time.

While we were waiting for all the nails to get done, some girls were done and getting out of control...so we had them play duck, duck goose. Phew!

Ella getting her nails painted by Melanie.

Cupcakes...I made chocolate filled cupcakes for the first time. Tasty and fun.

Oh, Ruby wanted a slumber party feel even though we don't do overnighters. Her friends brought jammies and changed after nail painting.

Make a wish...

Ruby was super excited about each one of her presents. People really nailed what she wanted and it all had something to do with earrings, jewelry, horses or more horses or other accessories and more jewelry. IT was perfect. She was thrilled.

Oh, and clothing with glitter and the word "Rock" or "Girls" is always a big hit.

What 9 year old wouldn't love some frangranced nail polish!??

A cozy pillow pet.

I was worried about kids having a hard time sharing Ruby's attention, as she usually plays with people one-on-one. Ruby initially didn't want a birthday party because she said that she feels bad at people's parties when she doesn't really get to play with her friend because they are so distracted by other people. She said she didn't want any of her friends to feel that way, so she just wanted a few special play dates one-on-one. I agreed, but after she saw the gift getting that Alice enjoyed at her party, she decided she could hang with a party. Hahaha. She is a super sweet girl, and she made sure her friends all felt special.